The Coldest Years
by YAJJ
Summary: Roy's been missing for three years. As the team tries to find him, they may very well uncover another giant military scandal, so soon after the famed Promised Day. How is the team to find him, and how will they fix him when they do? Chimera!Roy. Forced RoyxOC
1. Chapter 1

The Coldest Years

Roy's been missing for three years now. The military has pronounced him dead, splitting up Mustang's team. Hawkeye is less than willing to think so. That's not to say that she'll be expecting what she finds, or exactly pleased to find it. Chimera!Roy

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do, however, own the entirety of the family mentioned next chapter, and a few characters this chapter, and others, I'm sure, I just haven't written them in yet.

**Notes**: It's a little not obvious at all, but at the end of Falman's segment near the end, those three lines of italics are newspaper headings, detailing some of the case. Just warning y'all. And, if you couldn't tell (but you probably could... it's not _that_ hard to understand...), the titles chosen for those articles were all written by the same reporter, using a play on Roy's choice of alchemy. I also kind of wanted to test how well switching the point of view for each chapter (and little sections of the chapter) would work when I'm actually trying... I'll just have to see...

Blank face. Well, this was supposed to be posted exactly one month ago, but by the time I noticed it was 2013, it was already the 2nd, so I'm like, "I'll just wait!" Well, it's 2/1/2013, so now is as good a time as any! This is my big project. I have 4 chapters done, and I'm working on five. This should be updated two weeks from now. Expect chapter two then! I hope you like it!

Chapter 1

A long tail twitched in the darkness, black eyes peering down. The air _swished_ with each twitch, and each swish caused the dark-furred cat below to flick her small ears.

She looked up at him and narrowed her brown eyes. She didn't understand why he was being so anxious. They'd had a litter before. Two, actually. She watched him as he moved, sneaking down the stairway to the ground floor of their pen. Right, pen. Cage was a little more like it. Personal hell? That fit even better.

He stepped forward, his tail still twitching. He pressed his nose gently against her flank, and then leaned down to shift his three kittens. The kittens were all asleep and had been—would be—for a while.

His eyes slid closed in an entirely unsurprised amusement when the kittens shifted back to the way they were before, snuggling against each other for warmth.

She lifted her head when someone—some_thing_—approached their cage. Human voices sounded irritated. After three years in this place, both big cats knew that if the humans were coming, that meant either trouble or food, or experiment. But the humans never experimented so soon after the kittens came. They always waited. And it wasn't feeding time.

His hackles went up and he bared his teeth, sitting and waiting for those _damn_ humans to come in. If they tried to hurt any of them, he'd tear them apart. And he would do it this time.

The door opened and light stretched in, reflecting off of five pelts of brownish-black fur. One of the humans peered in, its evil eyes so very wrong as it watched them. Its eyes were trained solely on the kittens. He would _not_ allow his kittens to be taken away from them. He wouldn't! Not again!

Just as ominously as the human had come, it left. He shivered and went back to her, drawing his tongue between her ears. She gave an almost human-like smile and ducked her head, setting it against her paws so she could sleep. She watched as he lay down next to her, feeling his paws touch hers, offering the kittens his body heat as well as hers. She was more than a little relieved to see that he was still doing this, ever since the first litter.

* * *

Lieutenant Colonel Riza Hawkeye strode down the hallway after her general proudly, a manila folder clutched in her hand. Her face was set as she followed her commanding officer closely, determined to protect him.

'This one won't get away…'

Major General Louis Montgomery glanced backwards at her, and then looked forward again. He understood this need to protect him, he really did, but that didn't mean that it didn't get annoying. Because it really, really did. Maybe her old commanding officer had thought that her toddling around after him like a lost child was cute, but he just thought that it was degrading. Her previous commanding officer may have been weak, but he was the Firearm Alchemist, and he could protect himself, dammit! He didn't need her following him like a puppy!

He pushed open the door to his office, striding in. He was greeted warmly by his staff, but he went right past them, into his own, inner office. He glanced back, relieved to find that Hawkeye had dropped into her seat rather than following him in. He grinned when she immediately set to work on some of the files on her desk, dropping the file that she'd brought into her 'to do' basket. Whether or not the toddling was annoying, she was the most efficient worker that he had, and he wouldn't trade her for the world.

By the time that five o' clock rolled around, Montgomery had finished all that he needed to do. He was standing already, stretching pleasantly and ready to head home. As he expected, as soon as he stepped out of his doors, the entire team rose to meet him. As soon as he headed out, Hawkeye was at his heels, also finished with her work.

Montgomery marched on, ignoring her, until he made it to the parking lot. When he finally did make it to his car, he paused, set his hand on its metal frame, and sighed. "Lieutenant Colonel, as kind as your actions may be intended, you realize that you don't have to follow me everywhere that I go, right?" he asked.

Hawkeye nodded firmly, her throat tightening. "I do, sir, but I… cannot let another one get away." She told him. She swallowed the lump in her throat, looking back at the military building, to one of the offices on the third floor.

Ahh, of course. Brigadier General Mustang's old office.

Montgomery frowned. "Another? Lieutenant Colonel, Brigadier General Mustang's death wasn't your fault."

Hawkeye scoffed at that term. Death. As if he'd _died_. "With all due respect, sir, I don't think that he has quite left our world." She denied.

"No matter what you think, we've already had the service. He was given a proper military burial. Investigations has pronounced him dead. There's nothing more that we can do."

Hawkeye winced, looking away.

Montgomery's steady hand met her shoulder, squeezing it warmly. "Whatever happened, Hawkeye, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't be there, plain and simple. It was far past your time to babysit him." He sighed.

"_No, I haven't seen him. The last time that I saw him was yesterday morning; he greeted me on the way out to work. I thought that he might have gone out for a drink, but he hasn't done that in such a while. Unless he came home around two this morning, I don't think that he's been home at all."_

"I didn't have to babysit him. I just… I had to protect him. I thought that he could handle himself on his own." She released a heavy, defeated sigh.

Three years without her favorite person could do that to a person.

Montgomery smiled at her gently. "Hawkeye, I can honestly say that I now owe you for my life twice. I couldn't be happier with another person on my team. It doesn't matter what you did in the past. What matters is what you're doing now. And you're doing spectacularly."

* * *

Havoc stood from his desk, efficiently tucking away his magazine, when his commanding officer stepped out of his office. The man looked around the room, his blue eyes narrowed darkly. They did so even more so when they landed on him.

"Major Havoc, have you all of your work done?" he demanded.

Havoc glanced down at his desk, and then back up. "I do, sir. It's been completed for almost an hour, sir," he said.

The man snorted. He marched directly over to Havoc and poked his chest, his eyes dark and angry. "Look, I don't care _who_ your previous commanding officer was, I don't care how he treated you. In my office, we do not slack. We earn our damn pay. And if that means that you march over to one of _these_ hardworking men and you take their work from them, then you do that. Do you understand me?" he snarled. Under his breath, he muttered, "Who the hell was this guy's commanding officer in the first place? Lord knows he didn't do well with him."

Unbridled anger flared up in Havoc's chest, but he forced himself to push it back. For the past three years, he'd become protective of the general's reputation. If there was anything left of the colonel for them to protect, that'd have to be it. He knew that, with time and the discovery of their general or at least his body, it would squash. For now, though, with no one else to protect it, he would fight to do so with his life.

Mustang deserved that much.

"Yes, sir!" Havoc saluted.

The man above him nodded. Brigadier General Keller finally let his subordinate be, heading for the break room.

Havoc dropped into his seat and slumped. He looked at his desk, at a picture of the old team. It hadn't been too long after Alphonse had gotten his body back. They'd all gone up to see him and Ed, and had managed to crow them into a picture. Mustang was still blind (and alive…) at the time, yet he had no trouble locating the camera's general direction and offering his best smile, despite all of their injuries.

With a sigh, he stood again and went to clock out. It was time for him to go home, before he smacked Keller one, right across the face. He collected his things—noting that he was actually the last to leave the office… when had everyone else left?—and marched out the door and down the hallway.

"At least under Mustang we were comfortable. We weren't his fucking slaves." He spat under his breath, cussing out his superior.

He turned a corner, paused, and smiled. "Hey," he said.

Hawkeye looked up from her deep, contemplative thoughts. She smiled at him in reply, relieved to see another member of the old team again. "Hello, Major. New team working out for you?" she asked, turning and matching his stride.

"The guy is ridiculous. Cussed at me for not taking other peoples' work." Havoc claimed with a roll of his eyes.

"I guess I got lucky, then. At least Major General Montgomery cares for my wellbeing… mostly." Hawkeye replied.

"Hmph. I know it. Have you seen any of the others?"

"Not recently, no. Fuery's in the west if I'm not mistaken."

"Falman went back north?"

"Yes. Breda's still here, right? I don't get the chance to see him at all."

Havoc gave a heavy nod. It was scary, just how much they'd been split up. Just how much Colonel Mustang's disappearance had so greatly impacted the team.

* * *

Breda dropped his hands, smirking when he saw that the three bullets that he'd shot had hit critical areas of the target before him.

He may not be quite the sharpshooter that Hawkeye was, but he was getting there.

He reloaded and aimed, shooting through the round. With a sigh, he dropped his gun back into its holster and started to remove the bullet-proof training vest.

God, he hated this. He hated working under the bastard that was making him do this, he hated being separated from his team, and he _hated_ the uncertainty.

"_Look. We understand your loyalty to your commanding officer; we really do. But it's been over a year and a half. That's enough. It's time to admit that he's dead and move on."_

Well, screw them, screw his current commanding officer and, for making them all worry so much, screw Mustang, too.

* * *

"You're worried."

"Am not!"

"Are so."

"Am _not_!"

Edward gave a deep huff and slumped, glaring at his little brother. The 21-year-old was smirking at him, sitting on his desk.

"Why not just admit that you are? I am." Alphonse claimed. He leaned forward on his knees, tucking himself into something of a ball.

"Why would I be? Mustang can take care of himself." Edward decided. He spun in his chair and went to his bookshelf, pulling out a book and cracking it opening, scanning it over briefly. He dropped it onto his desk and slipped back into his seat.

_The Amestrian Military's Greatest Mysteries,_ published only last year. Alphonse reached over and pulled it open to one of the more worn chapters in the book… _Dead but Alive_: _Missing Military Personnel_. In chronological order from most recent to most ancient, this chapter told the stories of the countless military personnel who had gone missing for some odd amount of time, whether the case was eventually solved or not. Part 1, Brigadier General Roy Mustang.

Alphonse closed the book again after taking a brief peek at the man in the picture. He glanced at his brother again, watching the man frown, reach over, and scribble a little array on the paper.

Ed hesitantly pressed his hand to it, and neither were surprised when nothing happened. He slumped, but smiled in amusement as Al reached over and transmuted the paper crane that Ed had attempted.

Just a few inches from Ed's flesh right hand stood a treasured picture. It was the same picture that all of Mustang's staff had on their desks, because it was a great achievement in one of their friend's lives and it was one of only a few moments that they'd all been together.

With a frown, Ed picked it up and examined it for a few seconds. Then, he tossed it into a drawer. If one of them didn't get to see their happy, smiling faces together like that, maybe none of them should.

Though he tried to tell himself differently, the thought still hurt. And it probably would until the day he died, whether or not they found their missing general.

* * *

Major Miles entered the fort for the first time in a long time, his red eyes narrowed briefly before widening brilliantly. This was it. This was the home he had missed. Beside him, Scar lifted his sunglasses and looked up at the powerful fortress.

It was hard to believe that it had been six years since they'd all fought for every single life in Amestris. Six years since the Promised Day. Six years since Miles had last stepped foot in this place. If it were up to him, he'd never leave again, not unless ordered to by Armstrong. She would be the only thing to make him move.

"Major Miles! Welcome back, sir!"

Miles glanced to the side, noticing his companion do the same. Both smiled at the gray-haired man who stood not five feet away, saluting. He saluted in reply and took note of the stars and stripes on the soldier's uniform, nodding, "at ease, Captain Falman."

Falman dropped his hand and rubbed it and his other together. "Did all go well?" he asked.

"Ah, yes. Well enough, I believe." Miles agreed. He glanced to Scar, who shrugged and nodded.

Falman offered a smile, readjusting the coat hanging on his shoulders. "That's good, then. It's good to see you again, Major. And, er… you too?" he lifted an eyebrow at Scar.

Scar didn't reply, not that he was really up to saying anything at the moment.

Falman coughed, trudging after his superior. "Are you back for good, then, sir? Or are you just visiting?" he asked.

"Back here for good, I should think, unless the Major General decides to transfer me elsewhere."

Falman gave a fierce nod. "Somehow, I don't think that that will happen." He said.

Miles looked sideways at him. "Has there been any news on the Brigadier General?" After all, who hadn't heard the news of how the great Brigadier General Roy Mustang had gone missing in the middle of the night, how his team had been split up, just as it had been six years ago?

Falman only gave a despondent shake of his head. "Not a word that I know of. Unless they're keeping me out of the loop, I haven't heard anything." He sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets.

Miles nodded. He noticed the fierce sigh, the unhappy features, and understood. After all, if something happened to Armstrong and _she_ went missing, he'd drive himself nuts trying to find her.

But, that was beside the point.

"_How is Central expected to keep warm without its source of heat?"_

"_Central continues its cold spell as the search for Brigadier General Roy Mustang trudges on."_

"_Military declares Brigadier General Roy Mustang dead after one and a half of the Coldest Years Central has ever seen."_

* * *

A drop of sweat dribbled down Fuery's face as he hefted the radio into his arms, trotting after his superior. The woman tossed him an amused look, patiently waiting for her youngest subordinate. "Come along, Fuery. Creta could be cooking up any number of plans, and I don't want them to get them started without _us_ knowing about them!" she declared.

"Yes, sir!" Fuery quickened his step, following her. He dropped the radio gently to the ground where she directed and quickly went about setting it up. Within five minutes, they had a smooth-working radio interceptor completely set up, raring and ready to go. "It's done, sir!" he announced.

"Good work, Sergeant!" Tusla, his commanding officer, crowed.

Fuery grinned and stepped backwards from the machine. He liked his commanding officer. She was very kind and understanding, though she could be very hardheaded when she wanted to be. Actually, she reminded him a lot of Mustang. And because of that, he felt safe around her, he trusted her.

Tulsa crouched in front of the machine, looking it over. She waved him back over, so he squatted at her side. "Mind explaining how this works?"

"Uh… sure. Sorry, sir." Fuery obeyed. He spent the next thirty seconds explaining how to work his contraption, pointing out various gadgets and gizmos that would make it work.

Tulsa bit her cheek and grinned at Fuery, flicking the thing on and watching as it hummed into wakefulness. "Fantastic…" she said. She played with the dial, her brilliant grin widening when the static that they at first heard changed to mumbles, and soon whispers, and not long after, recognizable words, thick with a Cretan accent.

Fuery breathed a sigh of relief when he started recognizing real Amestrian. He watched Tulsa, who had become immersed in the broadcast.

After a while, the voices stopped completely, and then all they heard was static. Though Tulsa looked panicked, Fuery quickly calmed her, saying, "They just shut off their own radio; they are done talking, I guess. When they want to continue, they'll turn it back on and we'll hear it."

Tulsa looked at him, furrowing her eyebrows. Then she stood and smiled, clapping her soldier on the shoulder. "You do good work, sergeant." She said.

"_Well done, Fuery."_

Fuery's throat tightened momentarily when his mind shot to the past. He shook his head and thanked her.

Tulsa patted his shoulder once. "Time to turn in, sergeant. We've had a successful day."


	2. Chapter 2

The Coldest Years

Roy's been missing for three years now. The military has pronounced him dead, splitting up Mustang's team. Hawkeye is less than willing to think so. That's not to say that she'll be expecting what she finds, or exactly pleased to find it. Chimera!Roy

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. But I do own the family that this chapter is centered around. Ask permission if you want to use them, please!

**Note**: Late by one day. Sorry. But it was Valentine's Day, and I had robotics and then my boyfriend came over after, and he didn't go home until I was too tired to post anything. So sorry to anyone who's actually reading!

Chapter 2

A young woman looked out of her front window, then to the picture on the coffee table beside her, and then out the window again. A little girl stood beside her, only four years old, watching her.

"Charity…"

The little girl blinked at her mother's name. She cocked her head to the side.

The woman looked down at her and smiled. She patted her head gently. "It's nothing, Hope. Just missing your mom." She sighed.

Hope nodded numbly, drawing her thumb into her mouth. "Me too…" she mumbled.

The woman's smile faded a little. "Why don't you do me a favor and go get your brother and sister? We'll go out today. How does that sound?" she asked.

Hope looked up at her, nodded, and dashed off to find her siblings.

The woman looked back out the window, up at the sky. She sighed, bowed her head and, for the first time in two years, prayed. "God, if you're even up there at all, would you please have mercy? Give me a sign that she's dead or alive. Send me a sign; tell me where Charity is! I… know that I've never been much of a believer, but Charity has been, and that's just not _fair_, it's not fair!"

"Aunty Faith?"

The woman, Faith, turned around to see her nieces and nephew standing side by side, watching her with wide eyes. She turned back to the sky. "Three years has just been too long, God. It's been too long to be without my big sister. I'll beg with You, I'll plea. I don't care. Just _tell me_…"

"Aunty Faith?" pressed little Hope, releasing her big sister's hand to step forward and tug on her dress.

Faith turned down to smile at her. Then she looked at the older two. "Harmony, Chance, do you want to go out?"

Harmony, the oldest of them, stepped forward. She was almost ten years old. "Okay, Aunty Faith. To where?" she asked.

Faith glanced back out of the window briefly and then shrugged. "Maybe we could go to that one Aerugan place down on 39th. Your mom always loved it there."

Chance, seven years old, nodded. He smiled at his aunt. "Will Dad be back tomorrow?" he asked.

Faith only nodded. "Yes, Sage should be home soon. Maybe we'll get to go out tomorrow, then, too." She sighed.

Hope squealed in delight at the thought. She marched over to her siblings and grabbed their hands, clutching them. "Let's go get ready, now, okay?" she asked.

Chance and Harmony watched her dash toward their room. Harmony looked up at Faith. "You were praying about Mom?" she asked quietly.

Faith swallowed a thick lump in her throat, nodding heavily. "I was, Harmony." She admitted.

Chance stuck his hands in his pockets. "What about?" he muttered.

"A clue, or something. Someone's gotta find your mother. Someone has _got_ to know what happened to her. I was praying that God would tell me what it was that happened." Faith said. She smiled at the two. "Let's go, guys. Your dad is coming back tomorrow, and you know how he hates to see sad faces."

Chance looked at Harmony and put on a fake smile. Harmony took his hand and went to fit him into a sweatshirt and find their shoes. "We'll be out in a minute," she promised.

She turned and steered him around, disappearing back into their room.

Once they'd gone, Faith looked back up at the sky. Her brown eyes glinted in the sun's light. "If there's anything that you can do, Lord…" she started. She sucked in a deep breath and shook her head. She turned away from the window and went to the front table, tucking her arms into her ridiculously warm coat and picking up her purse.

Seconds later, her little nieces and nephew appeared at her side. With a warm smile, she took Hope by the hand, leading the three out of the door.

* * *

"They fell asleep waiting for you."

A man with bright green eyes looked up from his feet. He looked to the stairs, continuing to remove his shoes. "I'm sorry. The meeting stayed late."

"They were so excited for you to come home today." Faith put her hands on her hips. She stood adorned in a lavender bath robe, her hair still soaked from her relaxing tub. Her slightly rotund stomach was barely wrapped in the robe successfully; she'd leaped out of the tub and into her robe as soon as she heard the door open.

"I know." Sage dropped his suitcase to the ground. He looked up at her sheepishly. "Are they sleeping still?"

"Little devils tuckered themselves out waiting for you." Faith nodded.

Sage sighed. "Please stop rubbing my face in it. I'm _sorry_, okay? The meeting ran late, what was I supposed to do?" he demanded of her, his eyes burning with ire.

Faith clenched a fist. "How about give your children the only parent they have left? Take some time off of work every once in a while. They'd love that! Spend a day with them! I may be close, but I'm not their mother. You _are_ their father. Let them keep what little they have left." She commanded.

"Do you even know how much work I do? I can't just _take time off_." Sage looked offended by the idea.

Faith, too, looked offended by his blatant disrespect of her idea and of his children. "So, what? Does your job mean more to you than your children? What good is a good life if you've got no one to share it with? And with Charity gone and _you_ pushing away _your_ babies, that is the road that you're going down." She shook her head and marched into her bedroom. "I pity you, Sage. I do. You may never know what it's like being around your wonderful children. I'm lucky enough that I get to know that nearly every day, but I pity you." She decided. "You can sleep on the couch. Don't wake them. Good night, Sage."

Sage watched his sister-in-law go, frowning. He wished that she understood his line of business. It wasn't _his_ fault that he had meetings day in and day out. If it weren't for him, they wouldn't be living the 'good life', as Faith so claimed. She really ought not be so hard on him!

He slowly trudged up the stairs, managing to locate the couch. He slumped on it tiredly, and then turned over, looking up at the ceiling. He reached behind to where he knew a familiar picture was. He held it tightly, kissed the head of the person inside, and sighed. "Oh, Charity… this is tearing our family apart. We need you. Where did you go?"

* * *

She watched the babies fondly as they chewed voraciously on the piece of meat that had been thrown in. She and he had already taken a bite out of the precious food, before backing away to let the kittens lay claim to it. She didn't mind. She really wasn't that hungry anyway.

The kittens had stopped suckling yesterday. They were old enough that they didn't need to feed off of her anymore. They could eat real food. She and he both knew what that meant.

Which did explain his position. He was crouched near the door, his hackles already raised, his teeth bared, his claws unsheathed. Just as much as she didn't want for her kittens to leave, he didn't want them to leave, either. He was going to do what he could to protect them.

She gave a happy purr, and he glanced back her way, his small ears flicking up. A little cock of his big black head made her laugh, so she stepped forward and pressed her nose to his flank.

Both of their ears shot straight up when they heard voices approaching. She heard the word 'kittens' more than once and she knew what that meant. No! Not already! They couldn't take them away!

His ears flattened against his skull. Her fur puffed up. Both of their claws unsheathed. They would _not_ let their babies be taken from them to who-knows-where.

The door was pushed open. He shoved her back, offering his body to protect her. Two humans stepped inside, carrying three carriers between them. Both of them bared their teeth before those evil humans could get any closer.

One human raised an eyebrow, speaking something to its companion. Its companion laughed merrily, stooped, and attempted to shove him to the side.

He bit it.

The human yelped and shook out its hand. It snarled and lashed out with a foot, kicking him right in the chest.

He heaved in pain, almost crumpling momentarily. But he managed to keep his footing, placing one front paw out before him. His throat rumbled with an unearthly growl. How dare they!

The bitten human snarled something to its companion, who rolled its evil eyes and snarled. It lashed out again, striking him across the face and bringing forth a loud yelp of surprise. She snarled and leapt forward to defend him, digging her claws deep into the offending human's leg.

The other tore her off, manhandled her, and threw her to the ground. She landed badly, crying out when she heard and felt a sickening _crunch_ spring forward from her foreleg.

His dark eyes looked into her brown ones, watching her. She pushed herself up, wincing as she put weight on her bad leg.

The humans attacked them, surprising them both. He was held down, pinned by the neck, by the one that he'd bitten, while she was kicked to the side, smashing into the wall. Her head connected, and her eyes slid closed. The last thing that she remembered was a second, nauseating _snap_, and his voice yelping in pain, followed closely by three pathetic whimpers as the kittens tried to go their parents' sides. She begged that he would stop them from doing that, and she pleaded that he could stop the humans from taking them away.

* * *

When she awoke, her head was pounding. She glanced around her, not even moving or lifting her head. She could only see black. Lots of black. Where was she and why was it so dark? She fidgeted and jolted away, crying out and crumpling when she put weight once more on her aching leg.

A soft, amused voice chuckled. Three squeaks sounded when someone shuffled over. Or was it something? Was one of the humans here to attack them again? Were they to be euthanized?

A cold, snuffling nose pressed to her ear, and then a rough tongue drew up the side of her face. She looked in that direction, surprised to find a pair of black eyes watching her.

He drew away from her, sitting with one leg stretched out. He looked happy, though why, she didn't know. Shouldn't he be upset? Surely the humans had taken the kittens away. Right? They'd taken her down in a minute, and he looked dead tired.

Something pressed against her exposed belly, two tiny paws, followed by another pair, scrambled up on her before plopping down. She looked at the pressure, her eyes widening.

Her daughter laid there, her head cocked to the side. Her white front paws stretched in front of her, while her black back paws were splayed behind her.

She rolled, effortlessly knocking her daughter off and ambling away from her kittens. She took them each by the scruff and checked them over for injuries, relieved to find that all three were perfectly healthy, if not a little malnourished.

She looked up at him, looking into his dark eyes. She glanced down, noticing his leg, noticing its odd shape. With a shudder, she looked up at him, and he looked right back at her. Even a human could have read the message in her eyes, _"you kept them safe."_

He dipped his head with a heavy nod, _"of course I did. I promised."_ He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against her shoulder.

With a purr, she shifted him ever so lightly. She pressed her forehead against his, letting him siphon strength from her and at the same time doing the same from him.

They were, after all, all that they had left.


	3. Chapter 3

The Coldest Years

Roy's been missing for three years now. The military has pronounced him dead, splitting up Mustang's team. Hawkeye is less than willing to think so. That's not to say that she'll be expecting what she finds, or exactly pleased to find it. Chimera!Roy

Disclaimer: Trust me, if I owned Fullmetal Alchemist, there would be so much more Parental!RoyEdness, you don't even know. SO much more. :D

Note: Fudge schedules! Sorry, my life has had a busy this past while. I tried to get the next 2 week period, but I had robotics from 6:15-ish a.m. to 9:00-ish p.m., and I had to repeat that for the next two days as well. Oh well. *shrugs*

Chapter 3

Edward stretched his arms and legs like a cat, curling against the wall of the train. Across the seat, Alphonse raised his eyebrows, apparently amused. The elder watched him. "What?"

"Nice nap, brother?" Al asked innocently, crossing his legs on the seat.

"Shut up, Al. The trip is _days_ long. I'm sorry for wanting to sleep!" Ed scowled.

Al only grinned. "That's alright. We're almost to Central, brother. Then we just hitch on the next train to Dublith, and it's only a day's trip," he assured.

Ed sat up, looking out of the window to watch Central approach. "It'll be nice to see Teacher again," he said.

"Mhmm. I wonder how she's been?" Al agreed. He looked out of the window as well. He glanced his brother's way, watching as the man looked in Central Headquarters' general direction. He sighed heavily, frowning. "Brother?"

Ed shook his head, looking away from it. "What? I'm just wondering how everyone else is doing, too," he said, though he knew that Al knew that that wasn't the case—not entirely, at least.

"We could stop in and visit, if you're so wondering." Al offered.

Ed shook his head again. "Maybe on the way back. We promised Teacher we'd be there tomorrow, and we don't want to make her wait for us. Don't want her mad."

Al laughed a little. "Right, brother."

After a day's trip south and a hearty meal (courtesy of Izumi) Ed and Al had a long talk with their teacher. Izumi asked about their research in alkahestry, and the boys (who were hardly boys anymore) asked about her injury. They must have spoken for a good three hours before they completely ran out of things to say. Izumi went to bed and Sig went to clean the kitchen.

Though it was late, Alphonse chose to follow his brother out of the house and around the town. They used to do such when they were training under Izumi all of the time: the fresh, crisp night air cleared their minds every time.

"Not much has changed around here, brother." Al commented, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Ed shook his head. "Not really. It's nice," he said.

Al nodded. "We gonna go out of town?" he asked.

"North, south, east, or west?"

Al only chuckled, steering his brother west. Ed trotted along, soon coming to his side again.

After all, it wasn't as if this wasn't common. In the latter half of their training, they'd strayed out of town every time they went on walks. The longer they did it, the further they went.

The moon was bright that night—it was nearly a full moon and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. Ed sucked in a deep breath, enjoying the delicious crispness of the night air. "Smells good. Clean." He said.

Al took a deep breath as well, snorting. "Smells like a _zoo_." He laughed.

Ed shrugged. "Whatever. Must be one in town or something. Remember the one that came by East City when we were in town? Mustang tried to skip out on paperwork so we all went. 'Member that?"

Al nodded, a smile tracing his thin lips. "Yeah, I remember that one. Hawkeye made him do all of it and the next day's paperwork on the same day." He agreed.

Ed smiled, watching the ground. "But I didn't think that there were any zoos in town. We would have seen some posters or something." He frowned.

Al copied his brother's shrug. "Maybe they're just coming in." he glanced to the side. "Look, maybe that's it. Wanna go check it out?"

Ed glanced toward his brother's pointing finger. He spotted a big gray building surrounded by a tall chain link fence. Behind the building was a big expanse of nothing.

And inside that chain link fence, there sat an animal. "Hey, look at that. There's a little one sitting out." Ed said, stepping forward.

Al followed his brother as he approached the strange little thing.

It was a cat. Small and black, it had white front paws and earthy brown eyes. It watched them, its claws sheathing and unsheathing.

"That's either a _really_ big housecat or a baby wildcat." Al decided, crouching when they were only ten feet away from it.

Both jumped—Al got knocked backwards in astonishment—when a cry tore from the building and the cat sitting out was approached by a giant black cat with four white paws.

"L-looks like a baby, then." Ed stuttered, helping Al to his feet.

"That must be its parent, if it's the baby."

The larger animal dipped its head, opening its mouth to grab the scruff of its kitten. Al noticed that it teetered a little bit, keeping its weight off of its left hind leg. It flicked its ears for a moment, and then lifted its head, peering at them.

Ed shuddered when he looked into its eyes. They were a deep, chilling black, peering hard into his soul.

The animal didn't look away from him for a bit. Finally, its ears flicked back and it looked behind it, at the building. Its narrow eyes widened a bit, some emotion like fear mixing into the depths. It stooped and grabbed the scruff of its kitten hurriedly, digging its sharp teeth into the loose skin.

The animal looked up at them again, and a new thing flickered into its eyes. Neither Edward nor Alphonse knew exactly what this was, but they had a feeling that it was asking them to do something… After five more seconds of holding their gaze, it twisted back and dashed inside through a door barely open, hobbling on its broken hind leg.

Al watched after it for another thirty seconds, his eyes wide. He looked up at his brother, who had looked away, glaring instead at the building. "Brother?" Al pressed, touching his arm.

Edward turned away from the building, looking instead at his hands. Suddenly, he imagined white gloves on his hands, with a little transmutation circle on the back of each. Suddenly, he thought of Mustang. "Let's go. I've got a bad feeling about this place," he growled darkly.

Al nodded and trotted after his departing brother, who hadn't even bothered to wait for Al to agree. The younger looked back at the building, back at the door. That place was wrong; so very wrong. He didn't know why, he just got that feeling. He'd gotten the same one when he and his brother walked into the Tucker household the day that they'd found little Nina suddenly changed into a chimera.

The brothers were too shaken up to continue their walk. Instead, they headed back to the butcher shop, waltzing in through the back door as if they owned the place.

Edward went to wake Izumi, choosing to take the brunt of the attack. They had to question her; that place was too wrong to be left ignored.

Izumi plopped onto the couch in the living room, grumbling. She rubbed her left hand slowly around her right.

Ed sat across from her, nursing a red mark on his cheek. Alphonse winced sympathetically at the sight of the mark, holding a hand to his cheek imploringly.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Izumi asked, crossing her arms and legs comfortably.

Ed looked at Al, and Al at Ed, and then they both looked up at her. "A zoo."

Izumi paused. She waited for the boys to laugh and tell her what they _really_ wanted to talk to her about. But they didn't. They didn't laugh, they didn't stop, they only watched for her reaction. "A zoo."

Two feeble nods rose from the boys.

Izumi clenched her teeth. "You woke me up from such a pleasant sleep for _this?!_ A _zoo_?!" she demanded.

Both boys winced, but nodded again. "Y-yes, teacher!"

Izumi swallowed, took a deep breath, and glared at them. "Fine. What _about_ a zoo?"

Edward watched her, and then relief flooded him when he saw that she was actually listening. "Do you know if there's one in town? A traveling one, or even a traveling circus?" he asked.

Izumi waited, stopped, and thought. "No, not that I know of. There was one about three months ago, but it didn't do well here and left not five days after it set up. Why?"

Edward swallowed deeply. Alphonse looked sick, stood, and went to the kitchen.

Izumi cocked her head to the side. "…_Why_, Edward?" she asked.

Ed peered at her anxiously, rubbing his right hand roughly around his left, the opposite of what she'd been doing. "…Ah..." He looked for a second as if he didn't know how to start, and she wondered to herself what a boy so well-versed in the 'way with words' could find hard to grasp, especially after all that they'd all fought through… together. "…Al and I went on a walk just now, and we came across this big building, with two animals sitting on the opposite side of the surrounding fence. It was wrong. It was just… I don't know. It was wrong. There was something so bad about it, and I know that Al felt it, too." He explained.

Sig looked out of the window, towards the west. "Out west? I know that building. It's been abandoned for three years. It was condemned. No one has set foot in it since then that I know of." He said.

Edward looked down at his hands and clenched them together, finding strength in the warmth that each hand delivered. He knew what happened when buildings were condemned. The Fifth Laboratory was enough proof of what happened.

Alphonse pressed the phone to his ear, listening to his brother and teacher converse. Just like Ed, he knew that illegal things happened in condemned buildings. And the eyes of that thing… they'd unnerved him so much. There was something almost human behind those thin, black depths.

"_Good evening, Central Command."_

Alphonse dug into his pocket to produce a small journal. He flipped open to the back inside cover, tucking the phone between his ear and shoulder. "Hello, this is Alphonse Elric. I need to speak with Major General Montgomery. His code is Uncle, Tin, Coach, Zero, Eight, Six."

The operator took a pregnant pause, as though trying to figure out whether this was real or not. Then she sighed. "_Alright, Mr. Elric. I'd say no, but I've heard too much about you and your brother around the base. Please hold while I get him on the line."_ She said.

"Thank you." Al chirped with none of the usual cheerfulness.

Thirty seconds passed in which he listened to Ed and Izumi and Sig chat about things. With a tiny _blip_, the line came back to life, and he heard, "_Major General Louis Montgomery speaking."_

* * *

Hawkeye peeked up at the doors to the inner office. Nearly everyone had gone home who might have called Montgomery. There should be no one to call.

"Wait, _who_ did you say you were?"

She almost—_almost_—considered picking up her own phone and listening in on the Major General's conversation as Fuery had showed her all of those years ago, long before the Promised Day. But not only was that an invasion of personal space, that was _rude_. She wouldn't have done it even if she wasn't the soldier's perfect mold.

"You know she has her own, direct line, don't you?"

No matter how badly she wanted to, she wouldn't.

"Yes, yes, fine. I'll let you speak with her."

A _clunk_, followed by several footsteps, sounded from the office. The door creaked open, and Montgomery peeked out at Hawkeye. "Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye? There is a Mr. Alphonse Elric on the phone for you. He says that it _might_ be important." He said.

Hawkeye nodded and stood. _Might_ be? How hard was it to tell whether it was _important_ or not? She followed her superior into his office and went to his desk, picking up the phone that precariously balanced near the edge of it. Montgomery nodded at her respectfully and ducked out. "Hello?"

"_Lieutenant Hawkeye?"_

"Hello, Alphonse." Hawkeye shifted a little. "How are you?"

"_Oh, um, alright, thank you. I'm okay. And yourself?"_

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you. Now then, why did you call?"

Alphonse huffed into the line, and then muttered, "_Brother and I saw something… weird."_

"Something weird?" He was interrupting her work day for something _weird_? It wasn't as if she wasn't glad to hear from him; she was ecstatic. But honestly?

"_Mhmm."_

"Like _what?_ And why did you need to call me?"

"_See… that's the thing. I don't really know what we saw."_ Al explained, as if that could help her at all.

"What do you mean?"

Alphonse paused for a second, and then turned back to her. "_Brother and I saw an animal here in Dublith, and its kitten. Its eyes were just… so human. It was so wrong."_ He attempted to explain.

"Oh?"

"_Yeah. It looked right at us; it looked as if it were asking for help. I wouldn't be surprised if that was what happened. It didn't look terribly healthy, and it looked as if its leg were broken."_

Oh, fantastic. "Where is this?"

"_Just west of Dublith."_

"And what are _we_ supposed to do about it?" she pressed.

"_I don't… know! I just thought that someone should know, because if they get a report filed against them, they won't just have one, they'll have two, and I just… I know that Brother felt it too, that unexplainable feeling of despair. Lieutenant, Brother and I have only felt that one other time. With Nina."_

Hawkeye tensed and shifted. Nina. The little girl who had been transmuted into a human chimera with her dog, by her own father. Nina, who had been adored by those boys and had adored those boys. Nina, dead, by Scar's merciful hand.

She shuddered and forced herself to stop thinking of the girl. "You don't think that…"

"_They looked like they were in pain; even the baby. Chimeras are wrong. They're joint combinations of some animals with others. Human chimeras are worse, because some of them still have their mind about them… and that one did. At least a little bit, I think. There was humanity behind those eyes. We saw it."_

Hawkeye didn't overlook that anxiety and terror in his voice, and she certainly couldn't ignore it. There was a sort of wrongness about him. She passed a hand through her hair. "I… I can see if anyone in Investigations can do anything about it. Sheska, maybe. I'll talk to her to see if she can send a team down there, on a bad case of neglect. Okay?"

She heard Alphonse swallow. "_That'd be great, Lieutenant! I'm sorry for bothering you, but… but this was bothering Brother, and when something bothers him, you know something's up."_

"I hear you. It's alright. I'll talk to you later, Alphonse. I've got work to do."

"_Yes, Hawkeye. Thank you very much for this. Goodbye. Brother and I will probably stop in on our way from Dublith. We'll see you then."_

"Yes… see you then."

Hawkeye slowly forced herself to hang up, dropping the phone to its cradle. She looked toward the door, holding a hand over her suddenly aching stomach. All of a sudden, her work didn't seem all that important. She looked at the Major General's seat, and a gentle smile graced her cheeks when she imagined the chair pushed back a little, Mustang lazily leaning back with one ankle resting on the opposite knee. "_So, it looks like they're really coming. Do you think he can pass it?" "With the talent that it takes to perform human transmutation and successfully pull off a soul bind, there's no way he _can't _make it."_

She shook her head of the memory, closing her eyes with a heavy sigh. She picked up the phone again and dialed the number to Western Command.

It was, after all, time to pull the team back together.

* * *

When she was finally laying down again, her paws out in front of her, her injured leg relaxing, he allowed himself a moment—and little more than that—to relax. He'd shown those damn humans. They'd tried to do it again, tried to take away his babies, but when she had been knocked down, he'd shown them who was alpha. He'd done it. And he'd do it again.

He drew his tongue up the bridge of her thin nose, settling his forehead on hers. He sat down and peered at his kittens, who were tucked away in their basket. A couple of pairs of black eyes met his own, tiny noses twitching.

Wait. Wait a second. A couple of pairs. _Only a couple_? No, where was the third?

Panicking a little, (had one of those humans come in and snatched her away when he wasn't looking?) he hobbled over to the basket and looked in, begging to find that his daughter was snoozing in there.

Such was not the case. No, of _course_ such wasn't the case. Why would something go his way?

Feeling a little ridiculous since he hadn't used this ability so strongly in so long, he pressed his nose to the basket, searched for her scent, and started following it.

It went straight to the door. The door, which he just realized, was partially open, just enough that a kitten-sized thing could slip through and explore.

He cursed to himself, darting forward and using his small, weakened paws (with scars right in the middle of the bottom pad, what was with that?) to pry open the door.

He and his daughter were different. Very different. He may have stood a chance against those things less human than they, but she wouldn't be able to do anything about them. They would surely pluck her up and take her to a place, the same place that the two other litters had been taken to.

The very thought increased his hobbling speed. He had to pause when he heard voices or footsteps, because he really didn't want to deal with those humans.

The hall smelt of death and despair, he noticed, and he couldn't help but wonder if that was solely because of he and she and their kittens or if there were others here. It was like a maze, with rooms thrown in random places in the hallway and, just for a little added excitement, numerous stairs going up and down that he was forced to follow.

Goodness, where _hadn't_ his daughter gone? He knew that she must have been taken by now; scooped up, put in a carrier, and sold to some rich person like a pet. There was no way that she hadn't run into a human or two, or ten.

Finally, a door creaked halfway open was before him, with his daughter's scent trailing inward and disappearing after that. He put his ears back and sucked in the scent that he just realized was so _fresh_… why? Why was there fresh air, here of all places?

He lumbered outside and then saw her, just sitting on the inside of a chain link fence. That is to say, on his side of a chain link fence. With a wordless cry of joy, he pelted forward.

Words could not express the relief and fury that surged through him. He stuttered to a stop, nearly tilting over on top of her, and started to lean over.

He was picking up a scent. A distinctly human scent, but not evil. Strange, weren't all humans evil? He closed his eyes momentarily, his ears falling back as he sucked in that sense of warmth and let the cool breeze waft over him.

It was about then that he realized where they were. _Outside_. His daughter had found a way outside.

He lifted his head, and his eyes widened when they spotted two abominations… two boys stood there, watching him. He didn't know who they were, but something about them… when he looked into their eyes—one gold, the other a little less than—he found that he could not draw away.

He wanted to turn away. He wanted to start growling, to dare them closer, to snap his jaws around their puny necks and not let them ever hurt his family _ever_. But he couldn't. Where he felt tangible evilness slide off of those other humans, he felt fear and worry on these two.

Were they _afraid_ of him? Well, that was good. Surely that meant that he'd done _something_ right, though what, he didn't really know.

"_I think I saw it go this way!_"

He paused and stiffened. No, were they being found? Would someone find them? Take away his daughter, and kill him? That couldn't happen, it couldn't! He looked back at the buildings, hearing the scampering of footsteps as they tried to find either he or his daughter. Had his joy from finding his daughter and being outside for the first time in _forever_ completely obstructed his ability to scent out those humans, to feel for danger?

He quickly leaned over and grabbed her scruff, lifting her, ignoring her surprised squeak.

His gaze locked with the two boys', his eyes spelling out what he wanted to say and he could only beg that they would understand him. He could trust them; he _had_ to trust them, that they would help.

His daughter squirmed a little, looking up at him, her narrow brown eyes peering up into his black ones. He turned toward the door, swished his tail in the boys' direction, and dashed inside.

Once he made it back to their room, he saw that his sons were cuddling in their mother's exposed belly. He set his daughter down, and she scrambled over to them, nuzzling beside them. Finally, he dropped on their opposite side, laying his paws carefully to touch her own.

She shifted a little, listing closer to the new warmth. A gentle purr rose from his throat, pleased that she still did that, before he laid his head down and fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The Coldest Years

Roy's been missing for three years. As the team tries to find him, they may very well uncover another giant military scandal, so soon after the famed Promised Day. How is the team to find him, and how will they fix him when they do? Chimera!Roy. Forced RoyxOC

Disclaimer: I still don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Sorry! (Although that's probably a good thing...)

A/N: Changed the summary! Better?

Also, because everyone is suck-ish, (seriously, not one review? What am I doing wrong?) I'm going to go the positive route and assume that this story is perfect. The reason no one is reviewing is because no one can find anything to say about it. You're all stunned speechless by my beautiful writing style. I really like that idea.

So, now that my ego is effectively stroked, please review? I know this story needs help, but honestly? What am I doing wrong with it?

And, I've decided that I don't care. Edward is 'Boss', Roy is 'Chief', end of story. Thank you _veeeery_ much.

* * *

A young brown-haired man panted as he jogged the Western HQ, peering around for his superior. He covered his eyes with his hand, shielding out the bright rays of the sun. With a cry of relief, he continued his trek, grinning but then snapping into a respectful salute. "Command Sergeant Major Fuery! A phone call from Central, sir!"

The dark-haired man looked up at him, lifting his chin directly. He saluted, if only to release the younger. "Thanks, Brayman. I'll be there shortly," his superior assured, smiling.

Brayman nodded at him and scurried away, towards the mess hall's building.

Fuery grinned to himself as the man dashed away. God, he loved that. He _loved_ the kind of respect that, even as a lowly Command Sergeant Major, he received from some soldiers.

He continued toward the barracks and dropped off a note with the kind receptionist, to be given to one of his coworkers reminding him that Tusla needed his report ASAP, and then headed further into the heavily walled area, toward the base.

The young woman, Brenda Hatte who was, indeed, free Friday night, smiled as he approached. She wiggled her fingers at him innocently before pointing toward the phones. "A phone call from Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye. She claims that it's _urgent_," she said.

"Thank you, Miss Hatte." Fuery quickly ducked to the phones, picking up the nearest one. Brenda quickly cued him into the right frequency (a thing that he'd taught her not long after his arrival here in West City—he loved being a technological know-it-all) and then let him be.

Fuery cleared his throat and, with the sturdiest voice he could muster, he said, "Command Sergeant Major Fuery speaking."

"_Fuery, it's Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye,"_ said Hawkeye so formally.

"So I was informed." Fuery nodded, tucking a little further into the box that attempted to offer privacy but failed so miserably. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"_Actually, the team needs your help with something. Turns out Ed and Al found something in Dublith that they didn't like. I thought that just leaving Sheska to find someone to go would be alright at first, but then…"_ Hawkeye swallowed and shook her head stoically, sighing with defeat.

"Mustang." That was all that Fuery had to say for Hawkeye to audibly shudder and agree.

"_Yes. I just thought that maybe we could look into it, maybe find a clue. I'd go with just who we have here, but… I need everyone here, this time. I do,"_ Hawkeye said.

Fuery grinned, glancing around the hallway. He heard Hawkeye's immense sigh of relief and his grin widened when he replied, "when do you need me, and where?"

* * *

Falman watched the snow billow down, in the midst of a short snowstorm. He stood at the window nearest the receptionist desk, where he stood manning the phone, today.

It was really a pointless job, he and all of the others knew. It really, really was. There was no one that actually called up to the base. The only people to get ahold of here was generally the Major General, who had her own, private phone that most used. But, on that rare chance that someone important called, there was always someone to man the phones.

It did, at least, give him the chance to finish reading his books or playing his crossword puzzles or Sudoku. The Major General really didn't care what they did when they were on duty managing the phones.

A loud ring nearly made him jump out of his skin, and for a second he glanced upwards at the warning bell to see if Drachma was on the move or something. Then, he recognized that annoying noise.

The phone.

Someone was calling Fort Briggs.

Oh, son of a bitch.

"Good evening, this is Fort Briggs," he said, slumping into the seat and holding the phone to his ear.

"_This is Lieutenant Colonel Riza Hawkeye speaking. I'd like to speak with Captain Falman as soon as possible."_

How good was it to hear that voice! He hadn't heard it in a while. "Speaking. Hey, Hawkeye. Sup?" he asked.

Hawkeye sighed at his informal tone, but a smile reigned true in her voice. "_Hello, Captain. I was wondering if you could spare some time off to come down to Dublith with the team?"_

"What for, pray tell?" he asked, spinning in his chair to look out the window again.

"_A mission. A bad case of animal abuse and neglect. Al claimed that he and Fullmetal… had a feeling."_

Falman clicked his tongue. "You need me there?" he asked. It wasn't as if he didn't want to be there. He did. He missed the team, and he would like to meet up with them again, maybe go out for a couple of drinks with the guys like old times. But he did love winter up here. It was so beautiful.

"_I… would like you there. Something that Alphonse said, it's bothering me. He said that the animal that they spotted… that its eyes were human."_ Hawkeye hovered cautiously on the last word, listening anxiously for his response.

"And you think that—"

"_Yes."_

Falman didn't even need to say what she thought for her to know what he thought she meant. There was only one thing that could drive her to call him in from his work. And that one thing was their commander. A smile covered his cheeks in response. "Have you called in the rest of the team?" he asked her.

"_Fuery will be here by Friday—"_ Only two days away… why so early? "—_And I have yet to talk to everyone here, but I have no doubt in my mind that they'll agree to come."_

He wondered for a second if she had had any doubts that he'd be there. He quickly pushed away those doubts with a firm nod of his head. Not caring particularly what Armstrong said—he did have vacation time building up, maybe he could take time off for that?—he told her, "I'll be there as soon as I can."

* * *

Hawkeye took a heavy sip from her drink, peering over the lip of her Styrofoam cup as the men around her fidgeted anxiously. Havoc and Breda sat on the couch, Breda clutching his own cup of coffee as if his life depended on it while Havoc balanced an unlit but chewed up cigarette precariously between his pointer and middle finger. Armstrong himself just looked awkward, sitting scrunched on the opposite couch in the break room. He looked down at his bare hands, waiting for Hawkeye to start talking.

Hawkeye set her coffee cup beside her and pushed herself off of the counter. "Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules," she said as if speaking to a force of no less than fifty hardened soldiers about to go to battle, "just to meet with me. I can assure you, I did not take you from your work for any light reason. This matter is of some importance. How great the importance I cannot judge. Not yet."

Breda glanced sideways at Havoc, cocking an eyebrow when he noticed that she spoke a lot like Mustang had once spoken.

"Why exactly did you call us here, Lieutenant Colonel?" asked Armstrong, rubbing his thick hands together.

Hawkeye looked at him, and then at the other two. "I have a mission for us. Believe me when I say this, I would not have called you if I felt that I didn't need you. There is something very wrong in Dublith. Something that made Alphonse give me a call. Apparently, something that has bothered he and Edward enough."

Havoc bit his tongue, the tip hanging limply out of his mouth. "So… what is it?" he asked.

Hawkeye looked right at him when she spoke, "A very, very bad case of animal abuse and neglect," she said.

Breda lifted his eyebrows in disbelief. "This is _no light reason_?" he asked.

"I wouldn't have called you if I didn't believe so," Hawkeye said, her voice clipped as she glared at the man.

"Right, right. Sorry," Breda quickly amended.

Hawkeye coughed into her fist momentarily, taking the man's apology a little coolly. "Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted," she murmured, "Edward and Alphonse had a bad feeling about this animal that they saw. Alphonse called me, and he brought up Nina." She paused for a second, watching the three men shift and slowly become aware. "The chimera."

"You think that the animal is, perhaps, a chimera?" Armstrong elaborated, his small blue eyes widening a little.

"I think that it's a possibility, and I think that Ed and Al would agree with me, if I presented the idea to them," Hawkeye agreed.

Armstrong still looked a little uncomfortable. "And you're asking us to make a run down to Dublith, for at the least: potential animal abuse and neglect; and at the most: a potential chimera that we still don't know if it is actually a chimera or not."

Hawkeye swallowed, knowing how ridiculous that sounded. She nodded firmly. "Yes. I need your support. Fuery and Falman will be here on Friday. They've already been so kind to volunteer. I know that it doesn't sound like much, I do, because _I_ didn't think that it sounded like much, but the more that I listen to that conversation that I had with Alphonse, the more that I think: what if it's something _more_? What if it's more than just animal abuse? What if it's more than a successful chimera transmutation? What if it's…" she swallowed again, pushed her pride down evenly, and looked to each of the men. "What if it's _him_?"

The mock-helplessness in her eyes flashed so strongly that all three men broke. It wasn't difficult to understand that she was putting up a shield. Riza Hawkeye was anything but helpless. Still, she and the colonel had been so close ever since before the Promised Day. Since before Edward. Even before Ishbal.

Breda shifted uncomfortably. He bit his tongue, the coffee that he'd drunk sitting in his stomach unpleasantly.

Havoc looked up at her, but then looked away.

Armstrong was the first to react positively, tears streaming from his small eyes. "Oh, but my heart goes out to you, Miss Hawkeye! To see such loyalty, such determination for a man that the entire military had once thought dead is truly heartwarming! Any but you would have stepped up and taken his place and denounced him as though he were little more than roadkill that they had the misfortune to stumble on. But you! You searched, you never gave up! And even now, you take even the most improbable case and hold it tight to your bosom as though it were the largest bar of gold and you were nothing more than a beggar! I have never seen such loyalty! Of course I will come!" Armstrong stood and yanked Hawkeye into his arms, squeezing the life out of the poor woman who had been too shocked into silence to scramble away.

After a minute of true helplessness, Armstrong dropped Hawkeye and went to blow his nose. Hawkeye immediately got to regaining her composure, looking at her comrades.

Breda watched her, and then looked at the door that Armstrong had gone from. He nodded firmly.

Havoc grinned and tossed his chewed up cigarette into the nearby trash can. "C'mon, Riza. You know us. We'd never leave you like that. Or him. Especially when he didn't leave _me_." He tapped his leg, nodding like Breda had.

Hawkeye took a second to process the information, still in a bit of a daze from Armstrong's assault. She blinked, and looked at them. A real smile crossed her face, one that lit Breda and Havoc's faces immensely. "I… thank you, boys. You are dismissed."

* * *

Friday found Havoc, Hawkeye, Breda, and Armstrong standing at the train station, patiently waiting for Falman and Fuery's train to come in. If it was on schedule, Fuery's was expected to come within the next five minutes. Falman's would be in around six that night.

Hawkeye scratched nervously at her palm, sitting on the bench with Havoc and Breda at either side. Armstrong stood behind her, both drawing a crowd and giving them good breathing space.

They were mostly silent. Havoc or Breda sometimes raised their heads and voices when they saw a train pull in, excited to see their comrade, but it was never Fuery's train, and they'd been doing that the whole time anyway.

Finally, ten o'clock rolled around, and not three minutes later, so did a train. After several passengers unloaded with their stuff, out stepped a short man in the traditional white garb that meant that someone was in someplace hot.

Someplace like the west.

Armstrong waved his hand and called toward him, drawing the amused and confused looks of several other passengers.

For the first time in a year, Fuery's brown eyes peeked up from beneath that silly outfit and met with most of the old teams'. A cheerful smile broke on his face, and he happily jittered forward to them, saluting to all of them.

Hawkeye saluted to release him, a smile hovering over her lips. "Thanks for coming, Fuery. This really does mean a lot," she said.

Fuery nodded, his hand dropping. "Thanks for trusting me."

After almost a full hour of mindless chatter, the group went to lunch at a nearby restaurant. Hawkeye explained the situation in full as best as she could, and went about thinking of a plan with the boys. It wasn't long before five o'clock found its way there, and found the group heading toward the train station, five luggage in tow. They would be taking the seven o'clock train to Dublith, just as soon as Falman arrived.

When Falman did arrive, just like Fuery, he got the biggest embrace from his pals that either of them could give. Armstrong seemed content to promptly out-squeeze them.

Hawkeye respectfully shook his hand, glad that he'd chosen to come all of the way down from his beloved station up north for this. As with Fuery, they sat and chatted again, though not for nearly as long, before climbing aboard the train just as the conductor was calling, "Final call for all boarding the seven o'clock train to South City!"

* * *

When Hawkeye arrived, she wasn't exactly expecting a welcoming committee. She was expecting to have to follow Armstrong to the Curtis household, where Edward had told to meet when she had called to tell that they'd be there.

But that wasn't what she got.

Alphonse stood tall and proud at his brother's side, just a little taller than his older brother, who stood with his arms crossed firmly across his chest, peering at something in his hand. Edward snapped his pocket watch closed, grinning at them. "Took you guys long enough!" he said, gripping Havoc's extended hand and giving it a firm, relieved shake.

Havoc chuckled, shaking his hand as well. "Came as quick as we could, boss," he said.

Behind them a ways, a woman with stringy black hair and her large husband stood watching. Armstrong trudged over to him and they bumped fists like old pals. Hawkeye shook Izumi's hand, smiling at the woman.

Izumi nodded in reply. "Long time, no see, Miss Hawkeye," she said.

"And you," said Hawkeye kindly.

"Thank you for coming down and taking care of this. I went down there myself yesterday, and I know what the boys were talking about when they told me. I just can't handle chimeras. Anything else that has to do with alchemy—even fire-alchemy or that alchemy that the Crimson Alchemist did—I'm alright with. Chimeras are just wrong. They're just…" Izumi shuddered momentarily. "Alchemy is science, but _that_ is not science," she explained.

Hawkeye nodded. "Alphonse mentioned something like that," she agreed.

Izumi smiled at her. She pushed her hands into her pockets. "So… have you found anything—"

"No. Nothing new."

Ever since the Promised Day, when Mustang had stumbled about, blind and incapable of doing anything in his state, Izumi had protected him. She'd done it that day, she'd gone to visit in the hospital when she visited Alphonse and Edward. Even after he'd gone missing, she'd inquired about him and offered her services to find him.

It really was sweet. Mustang had told Hawkeye so, how kind he thought she was being, after she visited him for the third time. And Hawkeye had thought so, too, when she'd charged into a large warehouse in different parts of the country time after time with Izumi at her side, both hoping to find the missing man.

They'd even gone to Drachma once (the Drachmans had claimed that they would not go so low as to take away a man who was fighting so hard to fix his country's foreign policies, and had shooed them away as quickly as possible for even mentioning the idea), to Creta two or three times by now (the Cretan queen, too, looked offended. She'd sent her guards after them and would have had them executed had Izumi not stealthily thrown up a wall and then made a giant door in the wall and every wall between them and the outer gates), and Aerugo twice now (the prince there had been a bit suspicious, and promptly accused them of attempting to kidnap him before they'd had a chance to explain why they were there).

Izumi squeezed her arm gently. "Don't worry. _Something_ will come up."

Hawkeye noticed that she didn't mention what she thought that something was. "Yeah… I know." She smiled a little.

Ed looked awkwardly around them all. "So… erm… how long were you gonna stay?" he asked, looking down at their luggage.

Hawkeye shrugged, setting hers at her feet. "However long this may take," she said. "We always bring a change of clothes, just in case."

Ed nodded. "Okay. Uh, we can maybe drop all of those off at Teacher's shop…?"

Izumi didn't seem to have any quarrels with Ed's offer. "Sure. Come with me. We're only a ten minute walk from here. The walk to that building is much further," she shrugged.

"Thank you." Hawkeye nodded at her pleasantly.

Izumi nodded in reply, turning to lead them all to her house.

* * *

Hawkeye's heart beat a steady _thum-THUMP, thum-THUMP_ in her chest as she stepped forward into that building. She felt sick to her stomach. It smelt of death in that place. Of death, and pain, and utter wrongness.

Edward was to her left, a handgun held firmly in his hands, while Alphonse was to her right, hands tensed and ready to clap. The rest of her crew stood behind her, preparing themselves to do what they did best.

She felt Edward shudder against her arm, and then quickly attempt to calm himself. It was apparent to her that he felt this wrongness, too. But of course he did. He was an alchemist, after all. Used to be one, at least, and just because he lost the use of his alchemy didn't mean that he completely forgot everything that had to do with it.

Alphonse glanced to the right, toward him, and offered a tiny smile. He looked forward, noting a pair of eyes peering out at them.

Apparently, though no one was surprised, they were not alone.

Hawkeye noticed them as well. She leveled her pistol at the eyes and glared, daring them to come forward. She would not shoot unless they proved to be a threat. She would _not_.

The eyes moved as a man stepped out. "I don't believe that you are supposed to be here. Who are you, exactly?"

"The ones who are going to uncover your little _scheme_," Edward spat.

Hawkeye elbowed him.

"Oh really? What 'scheme', if you don't mind my asking? I'm just _too_ curious." The tall man grinned at them. He looked behind him, and signaled.

Out from the shadows behind him crept four men, two in lab coats and two in dark clothing. The two in dark clothing pulled out handguns not unlike Ed's own, while the two in lab coats only held up their fists, as if they thought they could fist fight their way out of this.

Al sucked in a steady breath and muttered, "Alchemists…"

Hawkeye's eyes widened a little. She looked at the two men and, sure enough, transmutation circles adorned the gloves on their hands. She stiffened.

Armstrong stepped forward, pushing all three of them to the side. He flexed his muscles impressively. "Do you hope to think that your alchemy can hope to compete with mine, which has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations?!" demanded the man.

Somehow, none of the five men flinched. Even Armstrong was surprised.

Al seemed to recover from the shock of Armstrong's declaration being ineffective first, somehow. He clapped, ducked, and pressed his hands to the floor. Immediately, a wall of cement and dirt rose up from the floor and encased the five men.

Edward watched Alphonse. He nodded at the younger. "Good thinking, Al. Those circles on their gloves didn't _look_ like any that could bust through cement. That should stall them at least." He tugged on Hawkeye's arm. "Come on, while we have time!"

Hawkeye shook herself awake from her stupor, nodding at the brothers. "Yes, let's go. C'mon!"

Her men followed close behind her. They rushed across the room, past the mound that Alphonse had created, and into the doorway from which the men had appeared.

The hallway that they were met with split right there into two separate parts. Hawkeye glanced at Armstrong, the second-in-command. The blond put his hand out and clapped Fuery on the shoulder. "I'll take with me these fine young men. That will leave you with an alchemist," he gestured toward Al, "a physical combatant," he nodded at Ed, "and a strategist," he nodded at Breda. Then he grinned. "And, of course, a fine marksman."

Hawkeye nodded. "Thank you, Armstrong. Ed, Al, Breda, you're with me. We'll go this way. Armstrong, if you find anything… I dunno, make some kind of transmutation that we might be able to hear," she said.

"And we'll just call Ed short if we find anything." Breda grinned.

"_I'M NOT EVEN SHORT!_"

Fuery laughed a little. "We'll just have the Lieutenant Colonel show off his impressive alchemy," he offered with a shrug.

Falman nodded. Havoc glanced backwards at them, rolling his eyes. "Keep your head, Hawkeye." He said seriously.

Hawkeye scowled a little, but also nodded. "And you, yours."

"Good luck."

Hawkeye turned around and marched down the hallway. Breda and Ed followed her. Alphonse watched Armstrong's unit retreat momentarily, before quickly catching up with his brother.

Breda furrowed his eyebrows at her. "Hawkeye, _do_ you think we'll find anything?"

Hawkeye paused, missed a step, and shrugged. "I don't know. I hope so. If only so that this wasn't a waste."

"Of course it won't be. That's one place we won't have to look later."

Hawkeye glanced to the left and right as one hallway appeared perpendicular to their own. She looked at Breda, who shrugged.

Edward looked at Alphonse, and then at Hawkeye when the boy nodded. "I'll watch your back, Hawkeye. Al will go with Breda. That way we can cover more ground quicker." "I'll call for you if we find something. We probably won't get separated _that_ much. This place didn't look big on the outside," Alphonse agreed.

Hawkeye watched the two, and then nodded. "Yes, that's a good idea. Good thinking. We'll go straight, Ed. We'll see you guys soon."

"Take care of yourself, brother."

Ed rolled his eyes. He grabbed Hawkeye's elbow. "Whatever, Al. You, too."

Hawkeye watched Breda and Al leave her, feeling as though this meant something. She smiled a little at Ed, who continued trotting along in front of her.

They found several staircases and went up and down them, refusing to split up now.

They were two levels below ground when they saw something. Well, they heard it first. Unsure of what they heard, they silenced and listened.

"…Claws?" Ed guessed, looking up at Hawkeye for confirmation. He leveled his gun nervously.

"That would be my best guess. Come on."

Ed nodded. He followed her, glancing up at her. "Should I call Al and Breda?" he asked.

"You might get someone's attention. No. Not yet."

"…Alright." Ed shuffled forward a little closer to the solid door. He steadied himself, pushed open the door, and went inside.

The room was pitch black as he stepped in, and he searched nervously for a light switch. He flicked it on as quickly as he could.

He almost screamed when he saw a snarling black cat before him, its brown eyes narrowing darkly. He looked it over, trying to discover if this was who he'd seen. No, its paws weren't white; they were all black.

"Ed?"

"Th-there's a cat in here, is all. Surprised me," Ed defended, slowly moving forward to give Hawkeye more room.

"Maybe you should call Alphonse…" Hawkeye muttered, squeezing in behind him. She squeezed his shoulder tightly, also watching the cat and three kittens, all three of whom she had just noticed were peering out from behind the cat.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay..." he coughed into a fist and sparked Al's name loudly.

Riza jumped when a yowl broke out from behind and above her. An almighty _thump_ sounded, and growls echoed from behind.

Slowly, oh so slowly, she turned around, her hands tight on her pistol. She searched for the source of the noise, and then looked down.

A snarling cat with teeth bared and claws unsheathed glared at her. It was the same size and color as the cat in front of Ed, with narrow black eyes and four white paws.

"…Ed…?"

Edward almost dared to peer over his shoulder to see what Hawkeye saw, but the cat before him shifted a little closer, thin and weak-looking yet still so strong. "Yeah?" he wondered momentarily if she thought they were going to die, but this was Hawkeye, and even if she thought that, she wouldn't _ask_ that. Of course not.

Hawkeye paused, not even sure that she knew what she was going to say. She swallowed, refusing to look away from the cat in case it tried to attack. Her eyes wandered over the cat's face and, for only a second, their eyes locked.

Her eyes widened. Suddenly, she felt very sick to her stomach. She even so much as flinched backwards, pushing Ed closer to his own enemy. '_No… god no…_'

"What? What is it? Hawkeye, are you hurt?" Edward demanded, finally looking over his shoulder to see Hawkeye's assailant.

Hawkeye's free hand went to her mouth, as if she thought she'd throw up. She forced herself to swallow and muttered around her thick throat, "oh… oh god…"

Ed turned a little more and looked her over. She didn't _look_ hurt, so what was it that was bothering her? Why was she freaking out on him? "What _is it_?" he asked sharply. He didn't notice several people appear at the door: The entirety of their team.

"Those eyes. Those _eyes_…" Hawkeye tried to explain feebly.

"Are you hurt, Lieutenant Colonel?" asked Armstrong, at the back of the group. Havoc stepped forward a little, his eyes scanning over the cat in front of him.

Hawkeye shook her head. She looked sideways at Ed and continued her attempted explanation. "It's those eyes… I would recognize them _anywhere_, doesn't matter how long it's been…" she gulped, closed her eyes, and forced her next, shuddering breath. "_Roy_…"

The reaction around the room was much the same: shock, horror, and a little bit of anxiety. Really, only the cats' reactions were different.

The cat in front of Ed glanced towards its companion, who took no notice of his name. The chimera in front of Hawkeye snarled. Either it didn't recognize its name, or it just didn't care. It opened its jaws, and snapped in a voice that made Hawkeye's heart soar, in a voice that was so unbelievably not human and yet… yet so very beautifully, wonderfully, _fantastically_ human, "_Get back_!"


	5. Chapter 5

The Coldest Years

Roy's been missing for three years. As the team tries to find him, they may very well uncover another giant military scandal, so soon after the famed Promised Day. How is the team to find him, and how will they fix him when they do? Chimera!Roy. Forced RoyxOC

Disclaimer: Still don't own FMA! :(

*Sigh* Roy is Boss, Ed is Chief. Isn't that right? Good thing it wasn't pertinent last chapter.

To _Zen_, because you were anonymous: Thank you much! :) I think that tiger-sized is a little big, but take a black panther or so. That should be about right, though a little broader. Thanks again for the review!

All reviews will be answered via PM.

* * *

She noticed that he looked particularly uncomfortable. He was digging his claws into the ground and pulling them up, hunched low into a crouch as he watched the door. He'd heard those voices. He'd heard those declarations from above. So had she.

"Do you hope to think that your alchemy can beat mine, which has been passed down the Armstrong family for generations?!" And also, "_I'M NOT EVEN SHORT!_" That, at least, had drawn something of a snicker out of him, though she didn't know why. She wondered for a moment how many words he recognized; she didn't recognize that many.

There were voices approaching them. They drew closer and closer and closer. She didn't know if she should trust them or not. Actually, she didn't know why she should, when humans had done nothing but hurt them. She glanced sideways to his broken leg and shuddered.

Humans were evil. Humans shouldn't be trusted. There was no doubt about that. Not… not right now.

He glanced back at her. He shifted anxiously, looked to the loft above them, and pushed off from the floor. She heard him _clunk_ up above, feeling safe that he was up there to watch over them. A moment after he leapt up to the loft, the door creaked open loudly. Immediately, her fur puffed up nervously and she bared her teeth.

The first thing to enter was a very human hand. It groped on the wall, found a switch, flicked it, and then allowed the rest of it to shuffle in.

She bared her teeth against the attacking human, tucking her kittens behind her tightly. She heard him shift anxiously above them.

Behind the first human, a second one came quietly. Both of them had guns, pointing them at the two.

The two spoke for a few minutes, saying words that she didn't bother to try to understand. She shifted as they spoke, anxiously. She nearly jumped right out of her fur when the first human yelled something loudly. He, apparently, did jump out of his fur. And onto the ground. With the angriest yowl she'd ever heard.

The second human stopped and slowly turned to face him. It was a woman, he noted, which rarely ever came down here at all. Still, he was nervous. Woman or not, _he did not like her_.

After a while, he took notice of more humans, though she took no notice of them. He would _destroy_ them if they dared step inside, but they had yet to get within three feet of the door.

The humans started muttering to each other. His ears flicked every time the first human looked away from her and looked at the woman, or he himself. The woman moaned something short, though he couldn't understand it but had the feeling that it _meant something_. It certainly did to the woman.

Feeling uncomfortable, he drew their attention best he knew how. His throat hurt from a severe lack of use—he never _spoke_, because he refused to speak to those damn humans, and she and the kittens could understand him without the complicated use of _words_—but he knew that this was the only way to really unnerve them. After all, what kind of animal talked?

"_Get back_!"

The woman's eyes were wide when she looked back at him. He could feel the nervousness radiating off of the humans behind him. Just as he had thought, they didn't like it. One of the humans behind him—a young yellow-haired boy that he almost recognized from a few nights ago—muttered some word that he also recognized, causing the woman's eyes to widen all the more. "Chimeras…"

He shuddered a little at the name. Finally, getting frustrated by the lack of attention and the fact that they were not doing anything, he leapt.

The woman didn't take notice of him first, but the human behind her did. The boy grabbed her arms and spun her around so that he was facing him instead.

His eyes widened. His paws clapped on the arm that the boy held up, his claws retracting before they could harm him. After all, this boy was surely a _kitten,_ wasn't he? A little child? For some reason, that logic reigned true, and he _wouldn't_ hurt children.

His teeth were nearly at the boy's throat when he clacked them shut, stopping himself from biting him. He looked at the boy, surprised to see bright metal eyes staring at him in reply, which he was certain that he had seen before… many years ago.

He yelped in surprise when the boy's free arm came up and caught him beneath his chin. He sprawled to the side, away from them all. The surprise left him dazed and confused. What the heck! He'd _stopped_!

The woman snapped at the boy, apparently just as surprised by the boy's actions as he was. The boy replied with something that he couldn't understand, glaring backwards at her. He sounded very loud, he noted. Why was that so familiar?

The woman released an exasperated huff, sighing heavily. Finally, she turned to look at him. His fur quickly went up, and he bared his teeth at the woman. If she dared try _anything_…!

The woman crouched. A smile touched her face, soft and, he took a second to realize, for _him_. Damn, those other humans never smiled at them! If they did, it was only because they were going to do something that he and his family wouldn't like. Why did that have to feel so _good_? His ears flickered a little when the woman set her strange little weapon—a gun, wasn't it? Why did he know that?—on the ground. He was even more surprised than anyone else when she pushed it toward him.

He winced when it touched his exposed belly. He watched it for a few seconds, waiting for it to go off and kill him, but it didn't. He looked up at the woman, noted how soft and sad she looked. She repeated one of those words from earlier, the one that she had moaned.

Why did he feel like he should _know_ that word? He couldn't think of what it meant. He couldn't think of why it was hurting the woman so much to say it and him so much just to think about it.

Finally, he chose to copy her. Maybe she would know? Maybe she could tell him what it meant? He cleared his throat best as he could, and muttered, "_R-R-Roy…_"

The woman turned away momentarily, bobbing her head. She muttered something else, mostly to herself, and then turned back to the other humans.

There was a tall, heavily muscled man in the back of the group who took charge of them. He started pointing around, pointing to yet another yellow-haired man and then at him, and then at a brown haired man, and at her. The man pointed once at the kittens, and immediately he started growling menacingly.

The woman almost looked amused as she watched him. She spoke again, saying a few words that he recognized. He struggled to follow her, since most of what she said was an unrecognizable buzz in his ears, but _god_ how soft was her voice? No one spoke to them like that, ever! How nice was it to hear?

"Home." That was the first word that he recognized. It was a place that someone lived, right? No, not quite… _home_…

"Help you," she said, and also, "Central". He wasn't certain of their meanings, but they stirred in him. After all, _help_ was a good thing… right? Help was definitely a good thing. But Central? Why did he know that?

Those two boys from before—the two that he thought he might recognize—stepped forward. They looked to him, to each other, and then to the kittens. Slowly, they approached her and the kittens. She didn't do anything to stop them, though her fur did rise a little.

The one that hadn't decked him started speaking soothingly to her. The words were working, because she wasn't moving. Why wasn't she moving?

The one that had decked him reached out and took his youngest son in his arms. As soon as he touched him, he snarled. And dammit, why wasn't she stopping them?!

The other boy glanced his way, looking relieved when she stepped closer and pressed her nose to his flank. The boy dipped and scooped up both his daughter and his oldest son into his arms. The two both nipped at the cloth covering his skin playfully. His daughter yawned and set her head on the boy's chest, looking comfortable on him.

He looked desperately at her, who shook her head and slumped beside him. She wanted to trust them, that much was obvious. But… _why_? They were humans, and all that they'd done yet to them was hurt them. The fact was proven by his throbbing jaw.

But that woman had said 'help you'… and what kind of a person would say that, if they didn't want to help them?

The two boys, still watching them, started moving toward the door. His eyes never left them, not once. If they did, he was afraid that they might just run off with his kittens, and he wouldn't let that happen.

He looked at she, who was looking back at him. He heaved himself to his paws cautiously, but his hind leg couldn't support him. He crashed to the ground disastrously, crying out quietly. She didn't even try, she just limped over to him, dragging her broken paw on the ground. She licked his ear affectionately and looked up at the humans.

The yellow haired man sighed and stepped up to the woman, crouching. The man offered the woman a smile and started speaking with her in soft tones, pausing every once in a while to listen to what the woman had to say.

The woman, looking thoroughly shaken, stood and backed away from them, watching the yellow-haired man.

The man looked at them and tipped a smile his way, making both cats recoil. From the boys' grip, the kittens mewled at them encouragingly.

A large brown-haired man crouched on her side, offering a comforting smile. The man cautiously held out his arms and, after a few moments of anxious growling, she gave in and let the man take her.

He snarled at the man for touching her, wincing when her tail flicked his nose. He snorted and shook his head, drawing a relieved smile from all of them.

The brown man stood and wobbled a little, still with her in his arms. He received support from one of the others, taking his elbow and steadying him. He started to leave, but turned around to watch the scene before him.

The yellow-haired man continued watching him, deciding after a few moments to, much like the brown man had done, hold his arms out for him.

He released yet another deep growl, not liking at all the man's trust. He didn't _want_ to trust the man, he wanted to maul him but he could hardly move! He would have skinned alive everyone but the boys (who were surely only kittens) if he could still move.

The yellow man did not look happy with him. He sighed and glared hard at the ground. He said some words that he couldn't understand, but then one stood out from the rest and, for one reason or another, he _liked it_. The yellow man said "Boss". He liked that. Something... something about it hurt him, but in a good way. He quickly copied the word like he had that 'r' word, Roy. The humans watched him, as though they weren't expecting that. Probably not.

"_Please_, Boss," said the yellow man, stopping his glaring and looking up at him.

He hurt from the gaze. Whatever the man was doing, it was making his belly ache. He could no longer ignore the man, or the fact that his kittens seemed happy to play with the two boys and that she was purring in the brown man's arms. He relaxed a little, and the man looked relieved. He opened his arms wide, and he felt warmth-real warmth-sprout in his belly like he had never felt before when the man careful stood, with him safely in his arms.


End file.
